Efficacy of the Swede score in prediction of high-grade lesions of cervix

Background: Cervical cancer is a preventable lesion that can be identified by stepwise screening methods. Visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid, Lugol’s iodine, pap smear, and HPV are the primary screening methods. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Swede score in predicting high-grade lesions of the cervix among patients attending a colposcopy clinic. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was performed in a colposcopy clinic under the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at CMCH. All referral patients to the colposcopy clinic were the study population. Women aged between 25-65 years was the study subject. Results: Majority (47.5%) of the patient’s Swede score was 4 and 20.1of % of patients had scores of 5-6 and only 1.3% of patients had scores ≥7%. 63 (79%) patients had low grade/normal/ cervical intraepithelial lesion (CIN) 1, 16 (20%) patients had high grade/non-invasive cancer/CIN 2 and only 1 patient had high grade/suspected invasive cancer/CIN 3. A score of 6 had a specificity of 100% for CIN 2 with a sensitivity of 30% positive and negative predictive value (PPV=100%; NPV=90.9%). Lowering the score to 5 for predicting CIN 2 improved the sensitivity at the expense of specificity (sensitivity=60%; specificity=90%; PPV= 94%; NPV=46.2%).Conclusions: Swede scoring system is consistent and reproducible, has a simple structure, and thus contributes to preventing cervical cancer. Swede score of 6 or more has 100% specificity; this scoring method is a preferred method for the treatment of high-grade CIN.

Novel analytical applications of immobilised enzyme reactors

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

High density patterns fabricated in SU-8 by UV curing nanoimprint

We present results on the nanofabrication of high density patterns in SU-8 resist, based on nanoimprinting combined with UV curing. The temperature dependence of the imprinted depth was investigated. The SU-8 gratings were well resolved with high density, good uniformity and high aspect ratio. This was achieved at low temperature and low pressure. Some issues and possible solutions are discussed. The process should find broader applications such as in the manufacture of nanofluidic channels and nanophotonic structures

Microfabricated barcodes for particle identification

Microfabricated barcodes formed in SU8 photopolymer are presented as a method for identifying individual particles based on their diffraction patterns. Two designs of barcoded particles are considered; a single layer SU8 process and a two layer SU8 process. Theoretical data shows that for ideal barcoded particles it should be possible to obtain several million uniquely identifiable codes for particles as small as 50 microns in length

Holographically encoded microparticles for bead-based assays

We demonstrate a re-writable, high capacity holographic encoding technique for multiplexed bead-based suspension assays. The microparticles are made from SU8 doped with a photochromic diarylethene dye and manufactured using multilayer photolithography and dry etching. Each particle is encoded with a unique hologram, whose diffraction pattern consists of bright and dark regions, representing a binary number that identifies the particle. Theoretically up to 1024 unique codes are available on a 100 µm particle using this method, when the code is read with a standard 2/3" CMOS camera. Encoding capacities of 512 unique codes have been demonstrated on a 500 µm SU8 particle. The code is thermally stable for 3 days at 25 °C, and once written, the code can be erased and re-written once whilst still remaining readable. The code can be written into the particle during an assay experiment (no pre-encoding is required) and requires simple optics for reading

Multistep synthesis on SU-8: Combining microfabrication and solid-phase chemistry on a single material

SU-8 is an epoxy-novolac resin and a well-established negative photoresist for microfabrication and microengineering. The photopolymerized resist is an extremely highly crosslinked polymer showing outstanding chemical and physical robustness with residual surface epoxy groups amenable for chemical functionalization. In this paper we describe, for the first time, the preparation and surface modification of SU-8 particles shaped as microbars, the attachment of appropriate linkers, and the successful application of these particles to multistep solid-phase synthesis leading to oligonucleotides and peptides attached in an unambiguous manner to the support surface

Fabrication of diffraction-encoded micro-particles using nano-imprint lithography

A nano-imprint lithography technique is described for fabrication of optically encoded microparticles (diffractive barcodes). The particles are fabricated from SU8 - a material which can be processed lithographically, and which can be used for attachment of molecular tags. The barcodes are identified by their unique diffraction pattern